Standards Development

The Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board is a non-government, member-based, not-for-profit that develops Australian Standards, Guidelines, Codes of Practice and Rules on behalf of the Australian rail industry.

We are recognised by Standards Australia as the only Standards Development Organisation (SDO) for the rail industry in Australia and as such we follow a rigorous process to ensure that our Standards reflect the needs of stakeholders, are up-to-date and are acceptable to end users.

When developing Standards, we also comply with the requirements of Standards Australia which are set out in SG-003: Standards and Other Publications.

From ideation to publication release, we recognise that public consultation is an important part of the Standards development process as it contributes to the quality and delivery of the final product.

Unlike open ended government requests for public feedback on policy reviews, we seek feedback on the technical content of our publications and determine what is relevant to the scope of the product that is being developed as part of an eight-step process.

RISSB in co-regulation

In December 2009 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to establish a national rail safety regulator and develop a rail safety national law that the rail safety regulator would administer and industry would support.

In the rail co-regulatory model:

  • Industry has the responsibility for ensuring its operations are safe, so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP)
  • The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator monitors industry to ensure rail is safe, basing its activities around the Rail Safety National Law (RSNL)
  • RISSB supports the co-regulatory regime by providing good practice Standards, guidance, and advice which helps industry prove that it’s meeting its SFAIRP obligations.